Hull City picked up a valuable Championship point against Derby County with a 0-0 draw at the KCOM Stadium.

Will Jackson presents his 30-second verdict.

Analysis

A lot has happened since Hull City were thumped 5-0 at Pride Park back in September. The Tigers have replaced Leonid Slutsky with Nigel Adkins, suffered countless injuries and only now seem capable of stopping their slide down the division.

Derby County have endured contracting fortune since that September evening. The Rams travelled to the KCOM with their tails up after a run of six wins from their last seven fixtures and their confidence showed.

With just 25 seconds on the clock, Derby combined well down to set David Nugent away down the right flank before the veteran striker forced a very good save from Allan McGregor, who will have been eager to start well and make up for his game-deciding error at Leeds United last Saturday.

However, as the game went on City settled into their game nicely and should really have taken the lead inside ten minutes, but Jon Toral could only direct his diving header off target.

That proved to be the last clear cut chance in a first half with lots of defensive quality, that was until Andreas Weimann beat Michael Dawson in the air to bring another fine save from the Tigers custodian.

Unlike the first, the second half was jam-packed full of chances, mostly for the home team and after Kamil Grosicki had missed the target, the chance of the day fell to Toral.

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Jackson Irvine played the Spaniard clean through on goal, but with just the keeper to beat he got the ball stuck under his feet before lifting it over the bar.

Nouha Dicko and Grosicki both missed great chances for the Tigers before their top scorer Jarrod Bowen was introduced, and it was the 21-year-old who played a big role in the next glaring miss.

Bowen whipped a lovely freekick towards the back post for Michael Hector to bury from a yard, but somehow he didn’t get a clean connection and it bounced wide.

Ultimately it was just not meant to be. The contrast in performance from that day the reverse fixture was startling, but for the second game running the Tigers could not put the ball in the net.

Key moment

Of all the chances City missed today, the most glaring was Toral’s second half miss. It summed up City’s week in front of goal. The Tigers have now failed to score in three successive games.

Good day for

Nouha Dicko. The striker has been excellent up front on his own in recent weeks. Once again he worked tirelessly to create chances for his side.

Bad day for

Jon Toral. While the Spaniard was productive on the ball, he was at fault for missing two huge chances that ultimately decided the game.

Bigger picture

Given the chance before the game Nigel Adkins would have snapped your hand off for a point against the league’s form side. However, in the context of the game City can feel hard done by not to pick up three points.

Results have been kind to City today, it means the Tigers move four points clear of the drop zone.